Mellanie Hewlitt
23 Jan 2005
Singapore Review
I was very amused by Mr Chen Hwai Liang's weak and shallow rebuttal of Gary Rodan's December article "The Coming Challenge to Singapore Inc." Mr Chen had stated that:
a) "GLCs are run commercially. Their managements are answerable to their boards, which in turn answer to shareholders" and
b) "Most major GLCs are publicly listed"
These flippant statements by a senior representative of government (from the Prime Minister's Office) on what are already publicly known "secrets" will only cast more shadows and doubts over the credibility of public administration in Singapore. It is a known fact that GLCs (Government Linked Companies), whether in the form of TLCs (Temasek Linked Companies), GICs (Government Investment Corporation) or SOEs (State Owned Entities) enjoy many special privileges which ordinary bonafide private sector companies do not.
Regardless of how they are coined by the government, "GLCs" are viewed suspiciously by the general investing public and members of the international community. On the surface, these entities look and sound like bonafide business concerns. Many are listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange.But this is a skin deep appearnce which ends when one peers into the internal management of these companies. Under closer scrutiny, little has changed as regards management of Singapore's GLCs/TLCs/GICs (or whatever fancy new terms the authorities wish to coin) and the old issues concerning TRANSPARENCY, ACCOUNTABILITY, NEPOTISM and PERFORMANCE still remain.
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6 comments:
Just curious, but who is Mellanie Hewlitt? I did a Google search and found someone who writes porn stories with the exact same name.
I believe it is a cover for someone who is rather worried that the Singaporean government may not be too pleased with the mailing list and so hides his or her identity.
If he/she also writes porn, it has to be a must read. He/she writes very well. If I venture to hazard a guess, he/she probably writes analysis besides porn (shan't give the game away and all). I cannot get past the link though, some kind of password needed, and sgreview's not up to date.
Referring to the article itself, corporation incestry is practised everywhere. The problem in Singapore is:
Singapore is a small place.
Temasek Holdings is everywhere.
LKY and his family show extremely vindictive genome strains of the pitbull variety.
No separation between the executive, the legislature, and the judiciary despite contrary claims.
Nobody has a clue when he decided the damn place belonged to him.
No place to take cover for those he outlawed.
Hence there is no room for justice to prevail, and therefore no better than in hell if you run afoul of him. Whilst it is uncommon to run afoul of him (not everybody even gets to see him), it is not difficult to run afoul of his many kins and cronies as who they are is not common knowledge. And therein lies the rub living in such an incestuous small world. How to survive when you don't even know that you're kenna marked until you realise your phone is being monitored. Take Nair for instance. Nair knew a lot more than the normal person. If Nair couldn't see what hit him, pray for the rest of us?
That is the reason why freedom of the press and democracy is so important in such a small place. And a limit imposed on the number of terms one is permitted to run and stay in office. It's not about politics, stability, persona or charisma, or perceived voluntary leadership renewal (seniorizing). It's about not allowing incestry to take such a stranglehold that it will take bloodshed to remove. Like Jamie Han said, however enlightened a despot, ultimately he turns into a tyrant when there are no checks and balances in place. This is not a game of Ages of Empires where your only goal is to expand your kingdom. It's real lives and flesh and blood you're toying around with.
I can't understand those trying to enter Singapore illegally. Jumping from the frying pan into the fire to get four wacks to the backside? Itchy backside? I can't find a way to get out. I want to. I see a real need to. But I can't find a way to get out.
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